The force said it did not have the “capacity or capability” to do the work itself and would not hire in-house staff as the jobs drive was a “one-off measure”.

The TMP firm of recruitment consultants was instead paid £188,000 to help with online registration and tests and telephone interviews.

The spending was approved despite warnings last year that the force could suffer budget cuts of more than £150 million over five years. The usual assessment centres, fitness and medical tests will still be conducted by police.

A report from the force’s head of human resources, Chris Rowson, said: “The organisation does not currently have the capacity or capability to handle the expected high levels of interest.

“There is no real return on investment case for an internal capacity and capability build as high volume recruitment is planned as a short-term, one-off measure.

“Therefore a strategy was developed whereby an established external provider was sought to work as our partners and to utilise off-the-shelf products. The strategy allows the force to concentrate limited resources available on the planning and executing of marketing and engagement activity with under-represented parts of the community. It also allows us to develop and deliver the provision of quality training, mentoring and development of new recruits.”

Mr Rowson’s report will be discussed tomorrow at a meeting of the strategic policing and crime board. The recruitment drive, West Midlands Police’s first for four years, was launched last month.

The new officers will be paid for via a council tax increase and the use of £60 million of police reserves.

Police and crime commissioner Bob Jones spoke last year of his “extreme disappointment” at a six per cent Home Office funding cut.

He said the reduction, for 2015-16, “means a further £27 million cut to West Midlands Police, in addition to the £126 million we’ve lost already”.

Mr Jones added: “This could take the total cut to about £153 million – or over a fifth of the budget – in just five years.”

In a statement, Mr Rowson said: “The force has not recruited police officers for five years and the human resources staff who were in place previously are no longer in post.

“We correctly anticipated that the recruitment campaign would generate a huge amount of interest which is why we sought the assistance of an experienced recruitment agency TMP to utilise their specialist skills in this area working alongside West Midlands Police staff.”